MAGA influencers are demanding President Donald Trump turn down a $400 million luxury jet the Qatar royal family is in talks to gift his administration, saying the emirate is “not our friend.”
They’re not concerned about the legality or ethics of a foreign country giving Trump a gift that’s been described as a “palace in the sky,” even though the Constitution expressly prohibits such gifts absent congressional approval.
They’re mostly upset that Qatar—specifically—would be the one donating the luxury Boeing 747-8, which the administration would use as Air Force One for most of Trump’s remaining time in office before transferring it to the Trump presidential library foundation.
“Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera, all the rest—that is not America first,” conservative pundit Ben Shapiro said during the most recent episode of his show. “It just isn’t America first in any conceivable way.”
Accepting the jet isn’t good for the Trump, his agenda, draining the swamp, or getting things done, he added.
“If you want President Trump to succeed, this kind of skeezy stuff needs to stop,” he added.
Ben Shapiro on Qatar gifting Trump a plane: “Taking sacks of goodies from people who support Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Al Jazeera, that’s not America first….If you want President Trump to succeed, this kind of skeezy stuff needs to stop.” pic.twitter.com/fZGGf6iM8N
— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) May 12, 2025
“Qatar is not our friend,” activist and conspiracy theorist Laura Loomer told Politico, calling reports about the planned gift “concerning.”
Over the weekend, before Trump had confirmed news reports about the jet, Loomer had written in a social media post that, “We cannot accept a $400 million ‘gift’ from jihadists in suits.”
“This is really going to be such a stain on the admin if this is true,” she wrote. “And I say that as someone who take a bullet for Trump. I’m so disappointed.”
“Ditto,” replied MAGA broadcaster and Fox News host Mark Levin.
Ditto https://t.co/DYeVUxR6Xb
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) May 11, 2025
Trump quickly dashed their hopes by seeming to confirm the reports in a social media post of his own.
“So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA,” he wrote on Truth Social.
Speaking to reporters on Monday, the president added, “I think it’s a great gesture from Qatar. I appreciate it very much. I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer.”
In response to his comments, Loomer told Politico, “Look, I understand the reasoning about not wanting to burden the United States taxpayer with $400 million. But it’s going to complicate foreign policy about the designation of the Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist organization, which was promised and undelivered in the first Trump administration.”
It’s not clear that Loomer, who has famously argued that 9/11 was an inside job, is the best person to analyze the complex foreign policy pitfalls of accepting gifts from Qatar.
For decades, the emirate has tried to strike a careful balance between supporting revolutionary Islamist groups—including Hamas, which it has financed since the early 2000s—without sacrificing its Western partnerships. The largest U.S. airbase in the Middle East, Al Udeid Air Base, is located in the desert southwest of Doha.
Thanks to that strategy, Doha has emerged as the only Gulf state capable of engaging with virtually all Islamist groups, from Hamas to the Muslim Brotherhood to the Taliban, while also maintaining ties with the West, according to the Italian Institute for International Political Studies.
It has played a key role as a mediator between the two sides, even as many Republicans in particular have questioned the U.S.’s relationship with Qatar since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel, according to Politico.
Some of Trump’s biggest allies in the Senate have expressed misgivings about the Qatari luxury jet being used as Air Force One.
“I’m not flying on a Qatari plane,” Sen. Rick Scott of Florida told The Hill. “They support Hamas.”
“I don’t know how you make it safe,” he added. “I don’t want the president of the United States flying on an unsafe plane.”
Another staunchly MAGA senator, Josh Hawley of Missouri, also said it would be better if “Air Force One were a big, beautiful jet made in the United States of America.”
The Boeing 747 in question was manufactured in Washington state before being reportedly given a makeover by a Swiss firm.
The post MAGA Stars Turn on Trump for Selling Out to Qatar appeared first on The Daily Beast.
